Category Archives: American Autobiography

Following our brief reunion, I tore loose from the family to find out what was happening outside. I went up to the Regimental Armory at Thirty-fifth and Giles Avenue because I wanted to find some of my buddies from the regiment. The street, old Forrest Avenue, had recently been renamed in honor of Lt. Giles, a member of our outfit killed in France. I knew they would be planning an armed defense and I wanted to get in on the action. I found them and they told me their plans. It was rumored that Irishmen from the west of the Wentworth Avenue dividing line were planning to invade the ghetto that night, coming in across the tracks by way of Fifty-first Street. We planned a defensive action to meet them.

We’ve got three weeks of the semester left, and my advice is to bear down and get it done. Final papers are due at the beginning of the last class meeting. (They will also be submitted to turnitin.com by 8 pm. Note: papers not submitted to turnitin.com will be given a zero.) On the last day, those who are interested may complete a closed-note, closed-book extra credit assignment in class. This extra credit assignment will be assigned a grade which will then be added as a percentage to your overall grade. So, for example, if a student currently has an overall grade of 77, completes the extra credit assignment, and receives 80/100, s/he will in effect go up to a 78.6 [i.e., 77 + (80 x .02 = 1.6) = 78.6]. Not a huge difference, but for it could lift the grade from a C to a C+.

I strongly advise that you begin your papers now. Those who received poor marks for syntax/diction/structure on the first paper should make an appointment with the LAC. Talk to your classmates. Email me your ideas. I am expecting well-researched, fluently written, intelligent, and imaginative final papers that evince a deep understanding of the key concepts of the course(s). The score for this assignment constitutes 1/4 of your final grade, so take it seriously. Any questions? Please address them to the comments section of this post so that everyone can benefit.

And more than one pen or pencil. And don’t wait until 10 minutes before class to buy a test booklet. And have a good breakfast. And get some sleep the night before. And if you’re really anal retentive put everything you’ll need into your bag before you go to bed so you don’t have to race around your apartment in the morning looking for it and miss the bus.